Letting Go (Niall Horan AU)

Chapter 39

Niall

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After, we leave the park and get in the car we decide to drive around for a while.

October points out restaurants she used to hang out at, her old schools, reminisces about her first kiss, first beer, old friends. She seemed happy.

The town she lived in, by the way, was forested and quaint. It had a cute old times feel, like a fairy tale village. We drive down the road back towards her house and I decided to pull over.

"What are you doing?" October asks.

"We're gonna go on an adventure." I smirk.

"Adventure?" She asks.

"Yes. In the woods."

"It's gonna get dark soon." She complains.

I just get put of the car, knowing she'll follow.

We walk into the red wood trees with plants crunching under our feet. October was right, it was getting dark, but it just made the woods all the more magical. It was shadowed and I had an idea.

I walked fast to get ahead of October, and hid behind a tree.

"N-Niall?" She asks looking around.

"Seriously this isn't funny." She says her voice shaking.

That's when I finally jump out and grab her shouting.

She does what I expect and screams, but what I don't expect is the tears.

"Tober? October, I'm so sorry, please stop crying. What's wrong?" I ask as I hold her close to me.

"J-just take me to the c-car." She stutters into my chest.

"Okay." I say turning around so she can hop on my back. She gets on and clings to my neck as I make my way back to the car. She burrows her face in my neck the entire walk back, not talking once.

"I'm sorry for this it, was a stupid idea." I confess once we get back into the car.

I start it and make our way back to her parents house.

"It's not your fault Ni.... It's just, there were a lot of memories here that I left, and being in the woods reminded me of them." She mumbles playing with her bracelets in her lap.

"What memories?" I ask curious.

She sighs.

"Bad ones. Ones that I was trying to run away from. I thought moving to London was the answer, but I guess not."

"What do you mean?" I question.

"Can we talk about this later?" She asks.

"No. Tell me now." I command worried. Who or what happened to her that made her move to a different continent?

"Niall I don't wanna do this right now."

"Why not? I wanna know what's scaring you Tober. You were so happy before."

"I'll tell you when we get back to my room." She promises, and I give in to her exhausted expression.

The moment we step back into her room I shut the door.

"Now tell me."

October takes off her coat and shoes, sitting on her bed.

"Why are you so interested?" She asks sounding annoyed.

"Because I'm worried. Whatever it was it made you move to the other side of the world. Therefore I would like to know." I answer, then sit down on the bed next to her, pulling her onto my lap.

She leans back into me and I wrap my arms around her.

"Me and my friends were in 8th grade. We decided to toilet paper some houses, and the last one we did some guy came out with a gun and threatened to call the cops. We all scattered and I ran into the woods. I got lost, and my flashlight gave out. The woods, they just looked so different at night, and I had no idea where I was. I called my other friends names and kept walking. It was scary not knowing what was making sounds behind me because if the almost pitch black. Every time I heard a noise I would wanna scream. At some point I came to a clearing and sat down in the middle of it. There was something shaped like a man, and I couldn't completely make it out.

It scared the shit out of me and I thought if I didn't move he'd leave. I sat there for hours with silent tears running down my cheeks. I thought I'd die." She says.

"I lost all hope. It felt like I was never gonna make it home." She sniffs.

"I must've fallen asleep at some point, because I woke up to sunlight and people calling my name. People searched for me and found me, then drove me home. Turns out, I was not even a mile away from home." She gives a bitter smile.

"I gave up just before I was gonna reach my destination. People found out

And spread it at school. People laughed at me for not even recognizing my own road less than 50 feet away. They laughed about it for weeks." She has a tear slipping down her cheek and I brush it away.

"Thank you for telling me." I say even though I know something from this event must have lead to something else much worse. I can see she is hiding it from me, but I do not push her. I'll wait till she's ready for me to know.

October

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The next morning Niall wakes me up early, and I know something is up.

"Why are you dressed? It's 5:00" I grumble.

"Because I have a surprise for you, now pack a bag and get ready." He answers smiling his infamous smile. I roll my eyes and kiss him gently.

"Your breath is absolutely terrible." Niall laughs.

"Oh, really? Is it?" I ask purposely breathing right in his face.

Niall fake gags and nods getting up, and walking down stairs.

I carry my entire luggage I brought with me downstairs when I'm ready.

"Why do you have that?" Niall ask with a banana in his hand, coffee in the other.

"Because in too lazy to pack a bag I shrug, and carry it to the car.

Niall gets in the drivers seat and hands me the coffee, which I assume he made for me.

"Where are we going?" I ask Niall and we pull out of my driveway, with my mother waving us goodbye through the window.

"Buckle up October, this is gonna be one hell of a surprise." Niall says smirking over at me, before sliding on his raybans, and continuing our decent towards the unknown destination.

Sorry, sorry, Sorry this is a crappy chapter, I admit it, but it was necessary. It's leading up to something huge 😏